I remember being at Barrowlands when I proposed to Kirsty MacColl on New Year’s Eve, in 1983. I was in Glasgow recording Scottish rock band Big Country for this BBC Two show, and Kirsty came in to wish me a happy new year. I got down on one knee and proposed to her – I didn’t have a ring because it wasn’t premeditated, but we had a great night! I did get her a nice ring afterwards and we had a good 10 years of marriage, during which time I ended up back at Barrowlands with the Pogues, in 1986.
What happened with this new release was that Warner Brothers were going to release this live version of “Fairytale of New York” as a bonus track, and the band went, hang on… The thing is, there’s really only one definitive version of that song. It’s like “Bohemian Rhapsody”. So the band sent me the first-ever live recording, which didn’t sound great. So I said, ‘Send me the tapes, and I’ll see what I can do.’ I spent a few days working on it, and the band loved it – it’s faster, more spunky. It’s a great version of the song.
